The trade show floor opened for the third and final day Friday at The PPAI Expo 2012 in Las Vegas. Following a busy week filled with professional development, networking and marketing strategies, distributors walked down the aisles eager to see new products and find solutions to their clients’ needs.
Speaking with suppliers and distributors on the show floor, one word cropped up again and again: optimism. “I’m finding the floor to be wonderfully optimistic,” said Damian Want, COO of 99CentPromos.com, which won the 2012 PPAI Supplier Star Award as the best new supplier. “The fourth quarter was strong and people are going into 2012 with a real belief that it’s going to be a strong year for the industry. Marketing budgets are beginning to expand and we have a lot to look forward to in 2012.”
Paul Bellantone, president and CEO of PPAI, reaffirmed Want’s observation. “I’m really sensing a spirit of optimism that I haven’t seen in the past couple of years,” he said. “Whether it’s truly the economy changing, or if people are just tired of being tired, we’re definitely seeing optimism about 2012. And I think it’s about time.”
While the final day of any trade show is generally slow, the convention rooms remained busy as attendees tried to take everything in on the 1,000,000 square foot show floor. “This is my first show, and it’s a great opportunity to see products I don’t think I ever would have seen before,” said Katelynn Packham, office assistant for The Logo Shop Inc., Logan, Utah. “You’re just exposed to everything there is possible to sell. It’s been a really good experience.”
Distributors woke up early to attend 7 a.m. education sessions for their industry certification and remained to wander from booth to booth all day, even though many had attended Thursday night’s Power of Two Party at LAX Nightclub in the Luxor hotel.
“The party went great, with thanks to our sponsors Skinit,” said Darel Cook, director of expositions and meetings for PPAI and the man behind the PPAI Expo. “The holidays are stressful, and then we go to the show right after the new year, and this is the first time they’ve really had a chance to go out and relax, and they had a great time.”
“We’re hearing great things from the show floor.,” he added. “The quality of attendees has been outstanding. The suppliers I’ve had conversations with are really predicting a good year.”
With the expo starting the day after New Year’s, and with everyone in attendance searching for the newest products and strategies, there is a definite focus on what’s new and what’s next. On both floors of the show, suppliers and distributors were discussing what they were expecting, and hoping for, in 2012.
“We’re going to continue to see people doing lots and lots of business on low-price items,” Want said. “However, we’re certainly seeing people pay a lot of attention to what we at Logomark like to call ‘retail details.’ They want to see quality product design and a quality product. They don’t want things that are throwaway. They want items that are going to have value and for their brand to be valued along with them.”
In terms of hot markets, Taraynn Lloyd, marketing director for Edwards Garment, said restaurants would be one of the most profitable places for distributors. “What we’re finding from distributors here at the show is they’re looking for ways to sell programs, and restaurants and hospitality seems to be the biggest area for them to have a strong impact,” she said. In addition to restaurants, Lloyd suggested hotels, resorts and convention centers are other markets with strong opportunities.
“From an association standpoint, it’s going to be a year where we stay on top of our legislative issues,” Bellantone said. “We’re really going to get more proactive in that. We will be on top of product safety, our members are demanding that, and I think that’s something we can deliver. I think for our members, it’s about getting back down to business and going back to the fundamentals of what made their businesses successful before the economic downturn.”
He continued, “I don’t know that we’re going to go backwards and things are going to get easy again. I think it’s going to be tough, but the people who’ve survived over the last two or three years are in a really good position to start picking up market share and really adding value for their customers, and I think PPAI is poised to help them in 2012.”
